Kent man’s dream to see every 2014 Blue Jays game LIVE
For some avid followers of Major League Baseball, on either side of the Atlantic, they will tell you it is difficult to follow every home game of their chosen team because of work and family commitments and often other reasons.
However, there is one man who is wanting to really put himself to the challenge, and do something that requires the ultimate dedication; to follow his beloved Toronto Blue Jays to all 162 regular season games in 2014, home and away, and deal with the rain outs and make-ups.
Neal Smith, 40, from Margate, Kent, has followed the Jays since a family trip in 1991 to Toronto against the backdrop of the build-up towards the All-Star Game at the SkyDome, as it was then known.
“I loved the city of Toronto for some reason from the minute I got off the plane,” began Smith. And when we decided to go and check out a game, I absolutely loved that too, even though the Jays lost 3-1 to Seattle – start as you mean to go on, I guess!”
Such a memory remains firm in his mind in that he can recall Toronto’s home run to left centre by third baseman Kelly Gruber and he can visualise sitting in his seat in the stand 20 years later.
Having been acutely aware of the sport and the associated culture of sport across the Pond through following American football’s Denver Broncos from a young age growing up in Dagenham; baseball was in fact his first live North American sporting event.
Reminiscing how his passion began to develop further, Smith explained the lengths he had to go to in order to follow his newly adopted team: “I remember trying to listen to the ’92 and ’93 World Series overnight on US Armed Forces Radio which largely consisted of trying to tune your inexact radio, very exactly, to an AM frequency, before waiting for it to come through loud enough between the French and German chatter to snatch what I could. It was not always as successful as one hoped!”
Luckily, technology has moved on for Neal thanks to the age of high speed internet access, allowing him to record the audio feeds and then listen to them the following morning on the way to work; and in hearing the tones of Jerry Howarth and the late Tom Cheek, he truly understands what people say about announcers being “the sound of summer”.
One for the memories – Tom Cheek calling Joe Carter’s famous title-winning home run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series
Whenever the Jays are on television or he has time to catch up online, he will do so, but ironically, despite the lure to baseball of the All Star Game back in 1991, it is now the one game that Neal does not find particularly enthralling.
Since the start of the millennium, he has travelled back over to Toronto on a number of occasions, and whilst there has found the time to fit in games. However, his only taste of live Major League Baseball has come at the Rogers Centre: “I have not seen a game in any other stadium. There is no real reason for that, just that if I had a choice previously, Toronto was the city I chose to go to. When I have been other places in North America it hasn’t always been during the season, or when a team has been at home. I do like the idea of going to Fenway [Park] though.”
And that idea is something that could become reality with the challenge he has set himself. The question remains though, it is difficult for someone who lives in North America to undertake such a feat, let alone someone from the UK, so why and how will he do it?
“I’ve had the dream of following the Jays around North America for five or so years now. I love the food, and the culture and the cities and the idea of taking 6 months out and getting to tour all these places for a summe,r and seeing baseball every day was something that has appealed to me for some time. However, life and money, until now, has meant that the entire thing was parked as a ‘maybe one day, later in life’ kind of dream.”
Whilst passing comment on what he hoped to do some day, a seed was sown that a baseball road trip like no other could make for good reading, akin to other successful books such as Faithful by Stephen King and Stewart O’Nan, and Feeding The Green Monster by Rob Neyer.
The problem comes down again to finance. Those aforementioned writers either had the money to do it, or were backed to do it, but Smith is tackling this issue head on by using a relatively new way of funding projects and ideas: “I knew I was never going to get any kind of advance from a publisher to do it, but the advent of crowd funding and Kickstarter, and being able to self-publish e-books on platforms such as Kindle means that everything has kind of come together and I have decided that it is time to try and see if I can make the whole thing happen. I have made contact with a corporate partner of the Jays who have passed the details of my project to relevant people inside the Jays organisation, and I am currently waiting to hear from them if they can or will offer any kind of support in any form.
“Once I decided to commit to the idea, I have spent the last couple of months trying to drum up interest and raise awareness of the project on Facebook and Twitter. Everyone has been very supportive of the idea and told me that they think it would be great.”
A epic adventure, such as this, has needed plenty of planning of costs and the travel logistics involved. At this point, his estimate sees him at 38,000 miles of travel and a total cost of nearly £50,000, which includes travel, accommodation and tickets for the six month trip.
Many may argue that it could be an excuse for a jolly holiday, but Neal is determined for the book to be born out of the journey: “The idea of turning the whole thing into a book and sharing it is just as exciting to me and I can’t help thinking that just like baseball players it is going to start to feel like work; having to grind it out to the end of the season when we get to the dog days – especially if things go badly for the Jays. That is one of the reasons the book is provisionally entitled ‘Grinding Out 1-6-2’.”
Another man who attempted, and succeeded such a task, was comedian Steve Melia, who followed the New York Yankees throughout 2011 both home and away, but Neal thinks he is setting the bar even higher for a number of reasons.
“I do think I have made it more difficult for myself! Firstly, Steve had an actual home he could use for half the time, whereas I need to find accommodation for every day. Also, if he saw every Yankees game then he has had to come through the border to see them play in the Rogers Centre only a few times; I am going to have clear customs and immigration at the start and end of every road trip and will try to do it on a UK passport.
“The one advantage that does give me is because I am crossing the border every couple weeks or so, I do not get into any issues with overstaying welcomes or visas in the way I would if I were following a national league team in the US for the six months. Of course, with clearing immigration every time, after about the eighth crossing I expect to start getting some funny looks and tougher questions!”
His friends, family and work colleagues are supportive of what may lie ahead, especially as he hasn’t been “committed yet or told me that I am out of my mind”, but he knows that without the support of mostly complete and utter strangers, he will not be in any position to do this for many years to come.
Nothing can be set in stone until the fixtures for 2014 are released, which is why Smith’s focus at the moment is driven towards raising awareness of what he attempts to do, through blogging, social media and other media coverage to promote the upcoming Kickstarter fundraiser on 20th July.
With all those obstacles finely tackled and put to one side – does Neal really feel he can do it?
“In terms of actually getting the funding I need, I honestly do not know! It is a lot of money that is needed, and I have never tried anything like this before. It can seem daunting, but if you break it down into an average amount per follower on Twitter and every like on Facebook it works out to be about £72 on average and then suddenly it seems so much more manageable – although I know it doesn’t work that way! If people are genuinely as enthused by the project as they say, then I’m quietly, confidently and loudly optimistic. I am confident that if it can be done, with the effort I am putting in, it will be successful. There is no point in half-heartedly trying this kind of thing.
“However, if I do find myself following them around next season then I absolutely will make every game, by hook or by crook.
“There will be rainouts and make ups, but it will be all part of the charm of the book, I think! Although the book will talk about baseball, I do think it will be the way the story gets told, rather than the story itself, which means it will appeal to more than just Blue Jays fans.”
“And if they reach the playoffs? I will find a way of coping with that if they get there, but remember my story about the first Jays game I ever saw? If things hold true, I’ll be watching the Jays lose the World Series in 7 in extra innings come October 2014…”
You can get involved on Neal Smith’s epic journey to take in all 162 Toronto Blue Jays regular season games by liking his Facebook page – Grinding Out 1-6-2 – and also following him on Twitter – @GrindingOut162
